Recent data from the Minnesota Student Survey illuminate a crisis that should concern all citizens in our state: Public schools are failing students who are transgender and gender diverse. Transforming Families Minnesota calls on Gov. Mark Dayton to immediately convene a special task force, comprising all relevant stakeholders, to provide policy and legislative recommendations to remedy this emergency situation.

Last May, the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice provided guidance requiring public schools to ensure that transgender and gender nonconforming students have access to an education that is free from discrimination based on their gender identity and expression. On the same day, Minnesota Department of Education Commissioner Brenda Cassellius released a statement of support, saying, “I applaud the guidance from the U.S. Department of Education that clarifies what we’ve believed all along — that gender identity is protected under Title IX, and that all students have a right to attend a school that is safe and discrimination-free.”

Transforming Families Minnesota is a peer-led community organization supporting families with youth who are transgender and gender diverse. Our members have been on the front lines advocating for our youth across the state for many years. For families who have experienced vocal and often hostile opposition toward gender inclusive policies and practices in public schools, MDE’s statement of support last spring was cause to be optimistic about the future.

However, on Nov. 1, our optimism turned to panic when MDE made data from the MSS publicly available. New questions on the 2016 survey made it possible to assess the school experiences of ninth- and 11th-grade students who identify as transgender or a gender-minority. The results for this demographic were worse than we could have imagined.

When compared with their “cisgender” peers, data from the MSS show that transgender and gender-minority students are: A. Three times more likely to report feeling unsafe at school; B. Four times more likely to experience bullying; and C. Five times more likely to have attempted suicide. Thirty-eight percent of transgender and gender diverse students have tried to kill themselves before their senior year of high school and many more were not alive to have their responses recorded.

Some may be tempted to view these shocking statistics as an inevitable result of these students’ diverse gender identities. But what recent research actually suggests is that being transgender or gender diverse is not inherently disabling. There is consensus from every reputable medical and psychological association, including more than 66,000 physicians from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Osteopathic Pediatricians, that affirming support at home and school is capable of mitigating the development of negative mental-health concerns. Our greatest fear as families is that, despite meeting our children’s needs in our own homes, the societal rejection they face at school will put their lives at risk. The MSS data provide evidence that our worst nightmare is the current reality for students in Minnesota.

It is worth noting that — while gender diversity appears to be present across demographics such as race, ethnicity, culture, religion, ability and sexual orientation — an analysis of the data from students with intersectional identities has not yet been conducted. This information will be extremely important moving forward, especially with the uncertainty surrounding the human rights of marginalized populations following the recent national election.

MDE has yet to issue a statement addressing the most alarming disparity between demographics ever measured by the MSS. While we applaud the steps MDE has taken in the past to protect students from discrimination based on their gender identity and expression — and support current efforts to develop a model gender inclusive policy — fundamental changes in practice are needed to ensure that transgender and gender diverse students have equitable access to a public education.

As Minnesotans concerned for the lives of the youth in our families, we respectfully call on Gov. Dayton to take all steps necessary to end the suffering faced by our children in public schools. We must ensure that transgender and gender diverse students feel safe, affirmed, supported and welcomed when they walk through the doors of their school. Approximately 2.5 percent of Minnesota students are transgender or gender diverse, representing nearly 21,000 youth in grades K-12. The time to act is now.

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